Interview Transcription Recording Guide

Imagine the scenario: you have set up an appointment to interview someone; you arrive, set up your recording equipment and spend some productive time getting some great material from the interviewee. However, upon checking the recording later you find there is so much background noise that you can hardly hear what the interviewee is saying.

King Audio Transcription & Typing Services gives the following advice for recording interviews for transcription.

• Check out your recording equipment before your interview(s) is scheduled. Play with your equipment, become familiar with it. Try recording yourself and experiment with the distance of the microphone.

• If possible practice recording your interview in the location where the interview will actually take place this will give you a good idea of the acoustics in that location: 

• placing the mic on a soft surface e.g. a cushion can improve the sound quality 

• carpeted rooms reduce echo

• Listen to your practice interview recording using headphones. It may sound completely different to the way it sounds on the device.

• An interview recording with a very low volume can be as troublesome to an interview transcriber as a recording with a noisy background so try to ensure that the finished interview recording can be turned up to an audible level without distortion. 

• Choose the quietest environment available to you; a busy restaurant is not an ideal environment for carrying out an interview that you will be sending to an interview transcriber.

• Turn off mobile phones. When a mobile phone searches for network coverage it interferes with recording equipment and can obscure voices even when set to silent or vibrate modes.

• Do not use voice activation when recording your interviews as words can be lost if there is a slight delay.

Remember, the clearer the recording the more accurate and complete the interview transcription will be.

Interview recordings can take hours to transcribe so if you have the choice of using a professional transcriber, King Audio Transcription & Typing Services can help you to keep up the pace.

Contact King Audio Transcription & Typing Services for an interview transcription quote by visiting the contact page to complete the form or drop us an email with your requirements. We will provide a prompt interview transcription quotation for your consideration.